Hong Kong – Chancay via Davos
Cosco Shipping Ports, an operator of maritime gateways, is set to acquire 60% of Terminales Portuarios Chancay from the latter’s owner, Volcan Compañía Minera.
The World Economic Forum is held in Davos (Switzerland) every January – and always attracts many an international party interested in doing a deal or arriving at an agreement there. This year maritime hub operator Cosco Shipping Ports (CSP) released news of the planned extension of its international activities at the event. CSP is set to acquire 60% of Terminales Portuarios Chancay (TPC), a subsidiary of Volcan Compañía Minera. TPC is based in Chancay, a town located on the Pacific Ocean coast, north of the Peruvian capital Lima. The contract was signed by the parties in Davos on 23 January.
According to the newspaper China Daily the firms said they aim to make the Chancay terminal an important Peruvian hub. Cosco’s stake is said to be worth USD 225 million. A down payment of USD 56 million was cited. Cosco let it be known that these funds would be made available primarily for the development of the terminal. This happy circumstance is down to the fact that the Chancay terminal owns the land for the terminal and thus does not have to pay for any required concession rights.
The partners are planning to create new multipurpose and container terminals, with all of the necessary infrastructure. The first phase will see four berths built – two of them multipurpose facilities and two of them container terminals, with a total annual capacity of approximately 1 million teu. The new facility will be located around 60 km north of the Peruvian capital. The port of Chancay is a natural deepwater port with around 16 m depth of water (maximum). It will thus be able to handle the modern maritime leviathans too.
Good for the Peruvian economy
Xiao Yaqing, the chairman of the ‘state-owned asset supervision and administration commission’, ascertained that “the Chancay project will inject new vitality into the healthy nd sustainable development of the Peru- vian economy, and fortify the broad international activities of Chinese enterprises.” Xiao Yaqing’s special commission was established in 2003 and is supervised directly by the state council, the government of the PRC.
Captain Xu Lirong, chairman of Cosco Shipping, in turn, underlined the fact that “Volcan started investigating the development of the Chancay terminal many years ago. It is simultaneously also the first terminal project launched by a Chinese corporation in South America. It is thus very much in the focus of and enjoys support from the governments of China and Peru.”
Xu Lirong believes that the hub can assume a key role as a Latin American gateway that is envisaged for it, including promoting links across the Pacific Ocean and boosting local economic growth. Zhang Wei, the deputy chairman as well as the managing director of Cosco Shipping Ports, in turn, closed the news with the observation that long-term cooperation between China and Peru will greatly facilitate port and infrastructure construction in the latter country.
Two trans-Pacific contractual partners
Cosco Shipping Ports, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Cosco Shipping, said that on 30 September 2018 it operated 36 ports with 282 berths worldwide. 192 facilities are for containers.
The mining corporation Volcan Compañía Minera is active primarily in mining and producing zinc, copper, gold and silver. It plays a key role in the Peruvian economy.